A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

CRACKLE~

A low-frequency hum filled the air. The surface of the Thunder-Attracting Needle suddenly glowed with a hazy luminescence—a phenomenon caused by ionized air. Then, a thick, silvery-white Thunder Pillar shot out from the tip of the sword.

The Thunder Pillar was initially only the size of a bowl, but it instantly expanded to a width of ten feet.

It struck the giant chrysalis with the speed of a lightning bolt.

Flesh and blood splattered everywhere as a torrent of corpses spewed from the chrysalis.

Lü Zhong’s heart pounded in his chest.

’Just how many people had to die for this?’

When he asked Shuini, she confirmed that there had indeed been mass disappearances within the Tuoyang Sect’s territory. However, at the time, she was fully focused on preparing for the Battle of the United Sects and had dismissed it as the work of rampaging Demon Cultivators or some other disaster, not paying it much mind.

It wasn’t that she was careless; it was just that death was a common occurrence in the Cultivation Realm.

In fact, if her side hadn’t held an absolute advantage in the recent Battle of the United Sects, allowing them to crush the enemy with overwhelming force, a real fight would have likely devolved into a stalemate, just like the second "Battle of the Three Sects."

In that scenario, the casualties among mortals would have numbered close to a million, at the very least.

In comparison, even if the chrysalis spat out a few thousand, or even ten thousand, corpses, it wasn’t really that significant.

"Disciple, what in the world did you see?"

Although the Spiritual Eye Skill Shuini had learned was extraordinary, what she was seeing now was completely different from what Lü Zhong described. It was clear her Spiritual Eye Skill was not strong enough to see through to the Evil Spirit’s true form, and she couldn’t help but grow anxious.

Seeing this, Lü Zhong simply took her by the arm and transmitted his field of vision to her.

It was an advanced form of Divine Sense transmission.

Once she saw the horrifying sight clearly, Shuini finally understood why her usually calm disciple, Lü Zhong, had looked so shaken just moments ago. The scene before them was truly beyond comprehension.

"Look, that thing is reacting!"

Following her gaze, he saw the winged, humanoid monster begin to move. Its whole body started to tremble as it waved its withered upper limbs, grabbing onto the chrysalis as if trying to rip itself out.

At the same time, the mountain of flesh in Shuini’s own vision was also changing rapidly.

It was quickly synchronizing with Lü Zhong’s view.

These were clear signs of revival.

It meant this Evil Spirit was about to manifest in the world!

"It seems this is the so-called ’Divine Concealment’ of Evil Spirits. While they are in an unformed state, they possess a strange power that allows them to hide themselves."

"Only cultivators who have practiced the Spiritual Eye Skill can see through this ’Divine Concealment’ to varying degrees. Once an Evil Spirit begins to revive, it will exit its state of Divine Concealment..." Shuini dredged this description from the depths of her memory.

Lü Zhong listened, glancing at her in surprise. ’Being from Central Earth really makes a difference,’ he thought.

He considered himself well-read, having perused over one hundred thousand scrolls and several times that number in biographies and travelogues. Yet, when it came to the origins and descriptions of Evil Spirits, all he could find were vague, contradictory records in scattered essays or miscellaneous talks.

If Yun Yao hadn’t warned him back then, he probably still wouldn’t know what an Evil Spirit was.

And compared to Shuini, who could cite ancient texts, the information about Evil Spirits that Yun Yao Ancestor, a Nascent Soul True Monarch, possessed was clearly fragmented. It was no wonder he had never mentioned the term "Divine Concealment."

Lü Zhong gazed at the emerging Evil Spirit with little fear in his heart.

Perhaps because it was emerging prematurely, its strength was only at the Early-stage Core Formation level.

But its size... that was truly immense.

Its body was as massive as a mountain!

Its height passed four thousand feet... then forty-four hundred feet, as the Evil Spirit pulled itself from the chrysalis.

Its complete form was finally revealed.

Contrary to what he expected, the body of the winged Evil Spirit was not fully humanoid.

Its upper body was human, but it was emaciated, like a victim of starvation.

As for its lower body—perhaps because it was still unformed—it looked as though a long umbilical cord dangled from its waist. When the Evil Spirit pulled it from the chrysalis, the severed end of the bloody cord was still gushing blood.

The dark, blackish blood was mixed with numerous corpses and was releasing a massive amount of black gas, causing the dark clouds in the sky to expand rapidly.

In just a few breaths, a thirty-mile radius was covered by the gloomy clouds.

Seeing how enormous the Evil Spirit was, Shuini had no intention of dealing with it by herself.

After probing its abilities and learning that it could only spit pillars of light and use a technique similar to Scattering Beans into Soldiers to spawn winged monsters, she was relieved. The creatures’ wings were too limp to support flight, and the Evil Spirit itself couldn’t even move.

So, she summoned the stationed Allied Army Cultivators.

Upon first seeing the Evil Spirit, some cultivators with weaker wills were immediately overwhelmed by its terrifying appearance, losing control of their minds and bowels. They fell into a state of terror and needed Calming Talismans and other means to soothe their minds before they could recover.

Most of the cultivators were unaffected and began launching Magic Skills at the Evil Spirit.

Round after round of colorful Magic Skills bombarded the Evil Spirit, blasting it off the ten-thousand-foot-high mountain.

Lü Zhong saw clearly that it had fallen right on top of Wangxian Town.

"Sigh, what a pity..."

With a sigh, he struck the Evil Spirit with "Thunder Swamp."

The Thunder Skill landed squarely on its head.

Compared to its effectiveness against smaller cultivator targets, this first form of the Wood Thunder Skill, "Thunder Swamp," seemed tailor-made for large enemies. Combined with the Thunder Skill’s natural advantage against Evil Spirits, it melted away nearly half of the creature’s head.

The Evil Spirit’s colossal size made countless thoughts flash through his mind.

"AARRRGGGHHH!!!"

The wounded Evil Spirit spat a black wind and let out a shrill, miserable cry.

SWISH! The two wings under its ribs suddenly snapped open. They were clearly malformed, one large and one small. They resembled bat wings, yet also had features of a bird’s feathered wings. Specks of light gathered on them, then shot out as pillars of light.

The pillars of light were wildly inaccurate. Even if one was lucky enough to hit a Flying Ship, it would be blocked by the ship’s defensive shield.